First time to Bengaluru?

First time in Bengaluru is dreamed as entering a fairy tale. A city with flora and fauna, lakes, awesome weather and a lot of money. However, the reality is different. Bengaluru is like most of the other cities of India with crowd, choked up traffic and pollution, only a few places have a fairy tale in them.

Bengaluru is a cosmopolitan city located in south India. It is a major IT hub. People come here from various places in search of job, or studies. There are a lot of opportunities emerging in every field.

My first experience to enter the fairy tale was 6 years ago when I came here for the first time. Being a first timer in Bengaluru, it was so confusing for almost a month. Not that I know anything much better now!

I was lucky to have a brother who worked in Bengaluru for some years. I had come with him and he was well versed with whitefield (a well known place in Bengaluru for its Tech parks). He also had friends there. So, with his contacts I stayed in an apartment with a friend near Hopefarm (It’s a place near Whitefield). Made a good first friend in Bengaluru.

Many of the IT companies are concentrated on the outer ring road belt from Hebbal to silk board. Some more on the silk board - electronic city area. My office was near Marathahalli towards Sarjapur. I preferred traveling to office by bus.
Traveling in Bengaluru can be very challenging, happens mostly with horns(talking less and honking more). You can take your own vehicle, autos, cabs or buses, and now metros too. Own vehicle traveling can be recommended only if you are well versed with the roads.

Traffic in Bengaluru is totally at a high during peak hours. If you are travelling for work, it’s a good practice to leave for work well in advance depending on the place you stay. Taking an office cab for work is advantageous. Any other travel, other than work can be well done in off peak hours.

With my brother’s assistance, I learnt how to travel to office by bus. I knew only one route Hopefarm-Whitefield-Ramagondanahalli-kundanahalli-Marathahalli. I would get out of the bus at Marathahalli, walk down the flyover and take another bus. Most of the buses took the straight route towards HAL. There were A/C Volvo buses plying from Kadugodi(previous stop of Hopefarm) to Marathahalli through ITPL, but the route was longer.

Weekends were happy days, travelling to my native by bus or train starting at majestic (now called Kempegowda bus stand, starting point for buses and trains). There were direct buses from Marathahalli to majestic.

I figured out travelling a little better using internet and maps. It can get quite confusing at times. BMTC has a website which can guide you through the routes and bus nos. One can also use KIA(airport) buses. Ticket rates are slightly higher, but they are much faster.

I have used autos for short distance travels. Many auto drivers do not agree for short distances or they ask for a higher price than the actuals. Beware, sometimes they could also cheat you by taking you in the wrong route.

I have also taken private sharing taxi once during emergency. Private taxi travel is a big NO for everyone. There are cabs here that can be pre-booked like meru, easycabs, uber, ola….

Communication is not that challenging keeping in mind you either know Kannada or Hindi or even English. Even though Kannada is the main language here, most of them do know Hindi and English. I didn’t have a problem in communicating since I knew Kannada but my ascent is not the Bengalurian one (Not improved yet, my hubby still makes fun of my ascent).

Once I knew the places around a little better, I rented a studio apartment for myself in the same area. This helped me in continuing my hobby of cooking.